Poisonous Wish
by XxSparrow.In.The.SnowxX
Summary: An unplesant memory triggers in Candace's mind and haunts her dreams. She didn't mean it, she truely didn't. She just wanted a friend. CandacexJulius VILLAGE SQUARE WRITING CONTEST ENTRY.
1. Part 1

_**Author's Notes~**_

Howdy! This story is my submission for Village Square's June 2011 writing contest. I divided it up into three small, very little chapters and I hope you all enjoy!

**Poisonous Wish**

**Part One**

Jin always kept a neat clinic, not just clean but organized. As she stowed away a file, Candace noticed each paper on a disease or medicine was placed neatly in alphabetical order, cases in chronological order, and not so much as a bent edge on any of the papers.

"So kind of you to lend a hand day after day like this," Irene was saying as she wiped clean the front counter. It was getting late in the day, and it was visible in Irene's aging, weary eyes and the strands of gray hair that had fallen loose from its bun.

Candace gave a slight smile. "It's something different from sewing," she said softly as she slid the file cabinet drawer close.

"I said I don't want to!"

The temper tantrum from the back room caught the attention of Candace as the door opened to admit Chloe into the lobby, followed by Ramsey and lastly Jin who was jotting some notes down on his clipboard, seemingly not bothered by the raging child.

"You can't go down in the mines," Ramsey was saying with a stern look towards his granddaughter. "Not so long as you have this cough."

Chloe spun around at her grandfather. "But I like the mines!" she protested. "Owen and I go in there all the time! It's the only place-."

"Jin says you must stay at home until your cough is gone." Ramsey would not hear anymore of it, but Chloe wasn't done. "I wish you weren't my grandfather!" she shouted for everyone in the clinic to hear.

They were words that haunted Candace, echoing quietly in her mind. _"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

She went home that day in an uncomfortable daze.

* * *

><p><em>There was a light drizzle of rain from the gray sky. A small girl moved carefully down the slippery steps, her blue hair pulled back in a long braid. She slipped the second strap of her school back on her shoulder and, pulling her hood tighter over her head, began to make way for home.<em>

_A small yip caught her off guard and, with a small gasp of surprise, turn towards the source of the noise. Rolling gleefully in a rain pool was a bundle of black and white. A dog. No, a puppy! A puppy less than a year old._

_Sensing eyes on him, the puppy rolled on his paws and tilted his head at the girl. 'Who are you?' he seemed to ask._

_The girl approached the puppy hesitantly, and the puppy started to wag his tail, urging her to __come closer. With a slight smile, the girl reached her hand out to the puppy, and in return received a __friendly licking which roused a giggle._

_"I'm Candace," she said as the puppy continued to lick her hand. "Do you have a name?" She received only a wag and a perk of the ears in return._

_"No name...?" Candace smiled and began to scratch the puppy behind the ear. "Well I have to call you something...Do you like Cloud? You're fluffy like one!"_

_Cloud gave a happy-sounding bark and pawed at Candace's leg. Candace giggled again, a sound always hard to come by from this shy girl. "You like it!" she sounded pleased with herself. Cloud barked again and continued to lick her. _

_Candace wore a scarce smile. It was the first in a long while did someone listen to her and enjoy her company. Her parents worked, Luna was always around her own friends, and Candace didn't have close friends of her own. Cloud was her first. _

_The rain was now falling a little harder. Cloud shook himself as a droplet fell square on his head and looked almost expectantly at Candace._

_"You don't have a home?" Candace assumed. "Well you shouldn't be stuck out here in this weather!" She collected Cloud gently in her arms, wrapping him in her raincoat and rising to her feet. "You can come home with me!"_

_Her eagerness nearly caused Candace to slip and slide on the town's stone ground, but she quickly caught herself and proceeded towards her grandmother's tailor shop. However her eagerness began to falter as she remembered her father's strict no-pet policy. That was no reason to give up a friend! _

_Cloud looked up curiously at Candace as if to ask, 'Why have we paused?'_

_Candace held Cloud closely to her. "We'll go around by the window," she decided. "Where my room is." She hurried around the tailor shop, coming across a simple square window inched open. _

_She and Cloud could, though, could only be friends until that morning._

_"What in the world, Candace?" her mother was demanding as she nearly tripped over Cloud who had slipped into the kitchen._

_Candace had quickly come to Cloud's aid, grasping him tightly in her arms. "I'm sorry, Mother..." she said quietly. "I-"_

_"You know the rules about pets," her mother said with a tired sigh. However the pleading look her daughter gave her caught the mother off guard. "Well...Oh...we'll talk about it."_

_Those words along gave Candace a glimmer of hope, her eyes now bright. "Oh, thank you mother!" _

_"I didn't say-" but Candace was already bolting happily out the door._

* * *

><p>Candace gasped softly as she came to, finding Luna looming curiously over her. Her sister's pink hair was down and hanging over her shoulders. She was dressed in her night gown. "You were mumbling in your sleep," she said.<p>

The last time Candace spoke in her sleep was when she was small and suffering from a nightmare, something Luna remembered quite well and, taking a seat at the end of Candace's bed, looked with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "What was it about?"

Slowly Candace shook her head. "It...it wasn't a bad dream..." she began as she shifted upright in her bed, turning on the light on her bedside table, for the moon outside was covered. "Not yet..." she said with a frown. "Actually..." she smiled slightly. "It began kinda nice..."

Luna folded her arms in confusion. "What _was _it?"

"More of a memory than any sort of dream," Candace enlightened while she gazed out the window, an inch open like it always is. She knew that Luna wouldn't be satisfied with that, so she went on. "You remember the time I...well...brought that puppy home?"

A small smile slipped onto Luna's face. "Cloud," she recalled.

Candace nodded, pleased that her younger sister hadn't even forgotten Cloud's name. "Yeah...I guess it just...struck me suddenly is all."

"You were really sad," Luna said sympathetically, moving her hand over her sister's.

Candace's smile faded slightly and she looked down. "It was years ago..." she reminded. "It hadn't even gotten bad yet, my dream. Go back to bed, Luna..." she encouraged, putting the smile back on.

Her pink-haired sister relaxed her shoulders and rose back to her feet. "Okay then," she complied, offering Candace one last smile. "'Night then."

The last sound that night was the clicking of the door behind her.


	2. Part 2

**Poisonous Wish **

**Part Two**

Candace dreamed no more that night; she never had the chance since she could not bring herself to sleep for the rest of the night in fear of seeing through to the dream's – memory's – end. Her reluctance to sleep cost her when the sun rose the following morning.

Sewing has always been apart of her life, she grew up in her grandmother's tailor shop after all. She was absently pushing the cloth through the sewing machine, her eyes bleary and unfocused on her task at hand.

Luna was watching her sister from where she was changing the clothing display out the window. She knew it had something to do with her sister's lack of sleep the previous night; her dream more specifically.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a familiar figure nearing the shop and smiled. "Julius is back for another visit," she said, looking over her shoulder at her sister and grandmother.

"Oh, good," her grandmother replied. "We'll need a bit of lightened atmosphere. It's far to quiet this morning." She was at the front counter, going over an item list.

Luna then looked over at Candace, who didn't seem to register the news, minimizing the smile on her face. Candace was too tired, or too distracted. Normally Candace enjoyed and looked forward to Julius's visits. Although Luna couldn't help but feel concern, she was wondering if she was only overreacting. It could just be a bad dream that she's recovering from, nothing more nothing less.

The bells above the door chimed as Julius entered. His stylish, highlighted purple hair flared outwards as usual and he wore his matching purple outfit and, of course, his smile.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully as he entered, shutting the door neatly behind him.

"Morning, Julius!" Luna said brightly as she stepped down from the display stand.

Julius took inventory of the shop. "Seems rather quiet today," he noted as he moved further into the shop. He was expecting another greeting, but it never came and it caused him to frown slightly, his eyes falling quickly into the seat Candace usually occupied.

There she was, mindlessly sewing away and Julius instantly knew something was off about her, which was evident in the way she slouched sloppily over her work, pushing the cloth through.

Julius walked over to Candace's work table, tilting his head slightly and looking over her work. Candace, he knew, was a skilled seamstress, yet this work showed otherwise. The lines were crooked and thread stuck up in places, leaving a messy and loose piece of work.

"Candace?" His voice was soft and he stood over her chair, looking between the clothes Candace was making and Candace herself.

"Hmm...?" Candace tiredly looked up as she heard her name. She squinted her eyes then smiled. "Oh, Julius! Morning," she greeted, her hands sliding towards the pounding thread of the sewing machine.

"Hey, hey!" Julius quickly reached forward and grabbed Candace's hand, pulling it safely away from the needle.

Candace blinked rapidly, taking her foot off the pedal and backing away. She shook her head, clinging on to Julius's hand and rising to her feet. "O-Oh," she stammered, taking a shaken breath and letting it out.

Her hand was shaking, and Julius could feel it. He gazed down at her hand in his, frowning and looking back up at Candace. "Candace, are you alright?" he asked with a flicker of concern in his eyes.

"Alright..." Candace smiled weakly up at Julius. "Of course...I'm just...a bit tired is all."

"She couldn't sleep last night," Luna spoke up as she came around Candace's other side. "It was because of her dream."

"Dream?" Julius inquired, lifting his gaze to Luna.

"It was nothing," Candace insisted, slowly letting her hand slip from Julius's. "I-I just had a bad night. That's all, it happens sometimes to everyone, doesn't it?" She looked between the two who each took a side of her. "Please, there's nothing to worry about, nothing at all! I'll sleep better tonight." She then smiled again. "I promise I will."

Julius lifted his eyebrows at Candace. "I think," he said, taking Candace's hand again and slowly guiding her away from the sewing machine. "You'll sleep better now. Sleeping isn't always just for night."

"That's right," Luna said in support as she trailed along after. "You need your rest. You certainly can't be messing with a sewing machine in this state, not after what nearly happened."

Despite her weariness, Candace wasn't eager to sleep for the same reasons she kept herself up for half the night. Regardless, she allowed Julius to guide her to her room with Luna holding the doors open. Maybe they were right, Candace reasoned, maybe it's sleep that will fix everything. She had to admit that forcing herself to press on without rest was, admittedly, very foolish and honestly not very progressive, especially if she wanted to continue being of help to her grandmother.

The sight of her bed suddenly became comforting to Candace; just seeing it reminded her of how tired she truly was. She nearly passed out completely right there on the bed and was asleep seconds after she landed on the plush mattress.

* * *

><p><em>"We're going to fix you up all pretty, Cloud!" Candace nearly sang as she gently brushed the puppy's fur down. It was her own hairbrush, something that would probably be frowned upon, but <em>_young Candace didn't know better nor did it really matter to her. Cloud needed grooming and the brush was conveniently there._

_The blue-haired girl placed the brush aside with a bright smile down at the black and white puppy. "There!" she said happily, nuzzling the dog. "Now you're all handsome and nice!" Cloud's tail was wagging and he licked Candace on the nose in reply._

_There was then a knock on her door._

_"Candace?" the voice belonged to her mother. "May I come in?"_

_Candace looked up at her mother's voice. "Yes, Mother."_

_The door opened to admit her mother, whose hair was long and pink like Luna's. Her eyes fell on her smiling daughter, then on the dog. There was an evident pain in her eyes that seemed almost exaggerated. "Candace..." her voice was soft as she went up to the bed._

_"What's wrong, Mother?" Candace asked with an innocent tilt of her head. Why was her mother's eyes heavy like they were?_

_"The dog cannot be kept," her mother was saying, words that struck Candace's heart deeply and filled her with horror._

_"No!" she was shouting. "Cloud is mine! He's _my _friend!"_

_"He is another one's friend," her mother corrected calmly, but Candace, in a change of character, was throwing a sorrowful fit. "No! He's happy with me! He wants me! I found him! He's mine!"_

_"He is not," her mother pressed. "Please, dear, there's nothing I can do. He is missed."_

_"There is! There is!" Candace accused, leaping to her feet and hugging Cloud to her. "I...I wish you weren't my mother!" _

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_The words echoed loud and fiercely in Candace's head as she watched her young self say those words, her eyes filled with horror and tears now staining her cheeks. She had said that. She had said that to a mother whom she loved._

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_She saw a scene in her bedroom a year earlier than the Cloud event, gently stroking Candace's hand and putting a wet cloth over her head. It was when Candace had been ill with a fever...Mother never left her side._

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_She saw her mother with her in the kitchen late in the night, both Candace and her mother in their nightgowns. Candace's hair was being stroked by the kind pink-haired woman, assuring her that her nightmare was over and all was well._

_"I wish you weren't my mother!"_

_Her mother was kissing Candace lovingly on the head, tucking her into bed after finishing up a bedtime story. Then she turned off the light on the bedside table and all went dark._

_"I wish you weren't my mother!" _


	3. Part 3

_**Author's Notes~**_

I make a reference to the song 'Never Alone' in this chapter. I do not own the song. :)

**Poisonous Wish**

**Part Three**

Candace found herself shaken awake, pulling her out of the tormenting echoes of the words that now haunted her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring up first at the worry-filled eyes of Julius. Her sister must have been in the shop area.

She breathed deeply for a moment, continuing to stare up at Julius. "Was I...?"

"You were mumbling and twitching in your sleep," Julius explained, falling back comfortably into the chair beside Candace's bed. "And it didn't look pleasant..." his eyes looked over Candace, still carrying some concern. "I thought that waking you-"

"It's fine!" Candace assured, lifting herself so that she was sitting upright. "I'm glad you did...and I feel fine now. I'm energized and read to get back to work. Grandma needs some clothes done, we certainly can't afford to go out of business!"

With that said, Candace moved to rise from the bed but Julius quickly rose back to his feet yet again and gently pushed her back. "Wait now!" He shook his head. "Hold on...something's wrong, Candace. What's wrong? What's causing these nightmares?"

"Nothing," Candace insisted, though her voice and her expression easily gave her away and she was already sinking back into her bed in defeat.

"Candace..." Julius said softly, placing his hand over hers. "I'd like to understand, maybe be of at least a little help." There was a hint of pleading in his eyes. Julius truly wanted to know, he truly wanted to help her if he can. Candace, she hated to say, had her doubts. But...perhaps it would be better to let it out.

"Yesterday..." she began, her gaze straying towards her lap. "I was in the clinic...and Ramsey was there for Jin to treat Chloe's cough...and she was forbidden from going into the mines for a while because of it."

Julius tilted his head back thoughtfully. "Chloe loves spending time in the mines. She's often there with Owen," he commented. He then nodded for her to continue.  
>"Well..." Candace slowly looked up, trying to look at Julius straight in the eye without breaking contact. "She...she was so upset and...she yelled at him." Her lips were trembling slightly. "She..." Candace gazed slightly downwards. "She said she wished he wasn't her grandfather."<p>

A faint gleam of understanding flashed in Julius's eyes and he gently squeezed her hand. "That phrase triggered something, didn't it?" he assumed. "What did it trigger, Candace?"

"It..." Candace again looked slightly up, attempting once again to keep her gaze locked on Julius without breaking it. "Well..."

Julius placed his fingers tenderly under Candace's chin, lifting it so that she faced him. "Someone said a similar phrase to you..." he said. "Or..."

"I-I said it..." Candace said, tears starting to gather in her eyes. "To my mother...right..." she gulped. "Right before she and Father died..." Now her tears were starting to fall. "I didn't mean it! I really didn't...but he was the first true friend I ever had."

"Who, Candace?" Julius gently pressed, stroking away the tears. "Who was your first friend?"

"Cloud..." Candace answered, her voice barely under control. "A stray puppy...one I found after school one day...but...he...he wasn't stray."

Julius seemed to be comprehending the whole ordeal. "He was already owned...and you had to give him up."

The blue-nett nodded, her lips briefly pressing together before speaking again. "They were travelers...and they were leaving and taking Cloud with them." Her gaze was now locked directly with Julius's. "And they did...they did!"

"Shh...Hey now, it's not all gloom," Julius said reassuringly to the sobs that began to escape from Candace. He pulled her forward into a gentle embrace.

"But he was the first who seemed to listen...who seemed to like me and who didn't judge me," Candace said, resting her head against Julius's.

Julius stroked her hair to calm the girl. "Sacrifices are apart of life," he pointed out. "You had to give up Cloud so that he can fill the heart of another family, and in return," he smiled down at her. "You received more people you can depend on, people who do love and care for you."

His words seemed to trigger something in Candace's mind and she pulled back slightly, looking up at him. There was another thing that bothered her still. "But my mother..."

"Loves you still," Julius said with a smile. "That hasn't and won't ever change." There was a slim fade of her guilt from her gaze, but there was still a look of uncertainty in Candace's eyes. Julius continued to smile and went on. "Tonight," he said. "We'll go to the graveyard where your parents' graves are. You'll see that your mother knows very well that you love her and she loves you back."

The moon was unmasked by the clouds and shimmering down on Harmonica Town that same evening. Its gentle glow seemed to dance off the smooth stones that hosted the names of Candace's parents that were neatly engraved.

Sitting on a soft blanket, Candace and Julius gazed up at the beautiful night sky that glowed with life, the sound of the lapping waves of the ocean bringing a sense of calmness to Candace. She was already feeling drowsy, but she didn't want to leave. She found herself at peace, comfortable, and soon was resting against Julius, who in turn had put a comforting hand around her.

Sleep had come.

* * *

><p><em>She was swaying gently in her mother's lap. She could hear the soft song her mother was singing to her, and Candace recognized it, and began to sing happily with her.<em>

_"My love will follow you, stay with you, baby you're never alone..." her mother was singing softly, words that rang true._

_There was a soothing breeze that came, and together Candace and her mother rocked in the soft, fluffy clouds of the blessed Heaven where her mother now watched her from. Candace was not watching from afar, she was her, sitting in her mother's lap with a sway of a rocking chair and the voice of a song._

_Her head was rested against her mother's shoulder, her eyes slowly closing as the sound of her mother's voice streamed through her head like a creek making it's way through the calm forest._

_No longer did she hear those awful words, those words that held no truth, not gold, to them. They had faded away, now locked away in her mind as a piece of history never to be revisited._

_"I love you, Mother..." Candace said softly. There were, again, tears in her eyes, but this time they were those of happiness. The good kind of tears, the ones Candace liked._

_"And I you, always," was her mother's response. "Know that."_

_Candace slowly opened her eyes. She was still in her mother's lap, but now before her was Julius and next to him, Luna, both smiling warmly at her._

_Julius extended his hand. "Let's go home. Together."_

_With a genuine smile, Candace reached out and took Julius's hand and he softly pulled her to her feet and into a bright light._

* * *

><p>Candace woke, her eyes opening up to the moon above. She was cuddled next to Julius, who too was awake and still with his arm around her.<p>

It was a beautiful night, and Candace loved every bit of it.

**_Author's Notes~_**

There you have it! Three very short chapters. I hope you all had fun reading it! Thanks for giving it a shot!


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